Strength
by xBleedingBlackRosex
Summary: Prompt: "Blaine loves Kurt's strength and forgiveness." Why I Love You series: What Blaine and Kurt love about one another.


**For the ****_Why I Love You_**** prompt by Kairii77: ****_Blaine loves Kurt's ability to be strong despite what he has been through._**** And by aunthay: ****_Blaine loves how Kurt can forgive anyone for anything, as long as they ask for it._**

**This is set at the end of the Sue Sylvester Shuffle episode. I've had the idea for this one floating around in my head for a while now. You get to see a different style, though – instead of from the point of view of the person who loves the other's quality, it's from the point of view of the person ****_with_**** the quality! You know, because I'm spicy that way.**

…

Kurt had always prided himself in facing his problems and overcoming them.

This was a problem, however, that he thought he'd already faced and overcome.

The day had started out normally enough. He'd woken up, gotten ready, driven to Dalton, and met Blaine for a before-class coffee non-date. His lessons had gone by as usual, nothing to indicate what was to come. He'd walked into Warbler rehearsal that afternoon with Blaine without _any_ warning, any suspicion.

They were halfway through the meeting when there came a knock at the door.

"Andrew, answer that," Wes ordered, displeased with the interruption. The freshman all but tripped over himself in his haste to get to the door. He pulled one open halfway. After a short, murmured conversation, he stepped back and announced, "Kurt, you've got some visitors..."

Kurt sat up, confused; he hadn't been expecting anyone. Exchanging a bemused shrug with Blaine, he got to his feet. His step-brother then slid awkwardly into the room, gazing around like he was in a foreign country, looking thoroughly out of place in the sea of blazers. "Finn? What are you _doing_ here?" A horrific thought struck him. "Is everything okay at home? Did something happen?"

"No, no, everything's cool," he assured quickly, knowing that Kurt probably assumed that his father had had another heart attack. "Just came to talk to you. Well, _we_ did..."

"'We'?" Kurt echoed blankly. He recalled Andrew's words – 'some visitors'. Plural. He was about to ask who else had come, but before he could speak, the second boy stepped into view, and the words died on his tongue.

David Karofsky was standing in the doorway to the Warbler Hall, staring intently at him.

He gasped and took a step backwards. Blaine was there, his hand steady on Kurt's shoulder. Kurt had not even noticed him get to his feet. He wanted to press back into his chest, to have Blaine's arms wrap protectively around him. But that was a fantasy. A dream.

"Finn, what the hell?" he breathed in disbelief.

"Perhaps we should take this elsewhere," Blaine suggested calmly, but Kurt could hear the underlying tension in his voice. Finn glanced around, seeming to understand, and was the first to step back out into the hallway. Karofsky followed. Nobody questioned it when Blaine joined Kurt; they all understood that Blaine knew what was going on between Kurt and that boy, even if they didn't know it themselves. After a moment of dead silence, Wes banged his gavel to resume practice.

Nobody was able to focus on rehearsal anymore, though.

…

"What's going on, Finn?" Kurt hissed as soon as the four of them made it to the end of the deserted hallway. "Why would you do this? Why would you bring him here?" _This is my safe place_, he wanted to add, but refrained himself. He would not give Karofsky the satisfaction of knowing how badly he'd scared Kurt.

"Just hear him out!" Finn pled.

"And why should I?" Kurt glowered, arms crossed, throwing a deadly glance at his old tormentor. The fear was quickly being replaced with anger. Blaine brushed against his arm, and the light touch somehow managed to calm him down a little.

"Because he's trying to make things better."

Kurt saw the sincerity in Finn's eyes, and knew that the taller teen genuinely thought that Karofsky wanted to repent. He wasn't too sure, though. But when he looked over at his living nightmare again and saw that his eyes were downcast, his head bent, his shoulders hunched, he decided to throw caution to the wind and give him a chance. There was always the slight chance Finn was right, after all...

"Alright. Talk."

"Kurt, I-...I don't, um..." Karofsky began. He glanced up, locked eyes with Kurt, looked away. But in that one short moment, Kurt saw the regret, and the apology that he couldn't quite get out yet. So, against his better judgement, he decided to toss him a line.

"Finn, Blaine, could you give us a moment? Alone?"

Finn, despite his assurances, seemed a little uneasy, and Blaine looked downright distraught at the mere thought.

"Kurt," he muttered, "are you sure that's such a good idea? I mean, after what he did..."

"No," he confessed. "But...Please. I'll yell if I need you."

And with that foreboding comment, Kurt's crush and step-brother both disappeared down the hall. Kurt did not start talking until they'd turned the corner and were out of sight.

"Alright. Start talking."

"I'm sorry!" Karofsky practically bellowed in his face. "I'm so, _so_ sorry for- for everything I did! I was just- There's no excuse, and I know that, and you have every right to hate me for the rest of our lives, but you just- you've _got_ to know how sorry I am!" The tears in his eyes unnerved Kurt. David ran a hand over his hair anxiously. Kurt had never seen him look so vulnerable. It was disarming. "I know that the slushies and the locker-shoving was bad, and it was wrong of me to pick on you. And I feel _awful_ about what happened in- in the locker room."

"You sexually assaulted me," Kurt pointed out.

Something akin to awe crossed over David's features. "But you didn't tell! I mean, you told your boyfriend" – Kurt did not bother correcting him – "but you didn't announce it to the whole school or anything. Or my dad. You totally could have made my life _miserable_-"

"You threatened to kill me if I told," Kurt reminded bluntly. David had the class to look away, ashamed. "But even if you hadn't...I still wouldn't have said anything. I don't believe in outing people. I know too well what you're going through. The only difference is that I _accepted_ it and embraced it. You _fight_ it. But one day, Dave...whether it's in a week, or a year, or even ten years...you're not going to be able to fight anymore. And trust me, coming out – to yourself, to your friends, to your family – it's much easier if it's by _your_ choice."

David nodded, letting the tears fall. "I'm so sorry..." he mumbled again brokenly. "I- I wish I could just take it all back..."

Kurt sighed. It was really hard to stay angry at the guy when he was so clearly lost and confused. "It's in the past now. I'm happy here. I wouldn't say I necessarily _forgive_ you, but..." He shrugged. "Just give me my cake topper back and we can put this all behind us."

David chuckled in spite of himself. "Deal." And then, for the first time in Kurt's memory, he actually smiled. A _real_ smile, not a smirk, or a leer.

"But I'm curious...Why now? Why come find me?"

David shifted from one foot to the other. "Um, I- You know how the football team performed at the Championship game halftime?"

Kurt nodded. "I saw that, yeah. You guys were pretty good. What of it?"

"Well, turns out I actually kinda..._like_ performing!" he confessed, his tone full of wonder at the mere concept. Kurt held in a snort of amusement. "I mean, it wouldn't be, like, a life path or anything, but you know, as just a side thing...And Mr. Schue said I wasn't half bad, so I was sort of thinking of joining glee club, as lame as- Oh. Sorry."

Kurt chuckled. "Old habits die hard?"

David smiled again. "Yeah, I guess. But anyway, Finn pointed out that if I wanted to join, I'd definitely have to clear things up with you first." Then, as an afterthought, he added, "And, you know, 'cause I really _do_ feel bad about everything."

"It's true New Directions won't accept you at first," Kurt agreed. "They can be really protective when they want to be."

Finn and Blaine appeared once more, striding towards them with the clear intention of looking casual, but failing. They were watching Kurt and David very closely, checking for injuries. Kurt turned to his step-brother.

"Finn, I'm assigning you to run interference. Make sure the rest of glee club doesn't completely tear him to pieces when he tries out. Or at least not completely," he corrected himself. "If need be, call me and put me on speaker so that I can tell them in person that David has my permission to join."

"Wait, what-?" Blaine gaped.

"I'll explain later," Kurt cut in.

Finn beamed. "Awesome! Thanks, little bro!" Kurt's muttered 'I'm older than you' was lost as he turned to address Karofsky. "Come on, dude, we'd better head back. See you at home, Kurt!"

Kurt nodded. David glanced back over his shoulder as they retreated and threw out a hesitant, "Maybe see you later, Hummel."

"Maybe. Goodbye."

The moment they were gone, Blaine stepped forward and caught Kurt in a fierce hug, tactfully tightening his hold but not commenting when Kurt's knees practically gave out from underneath him.

"Need to ditch the rest of practice and go get some ice cream?" Blaine offered.

Kurt laughed breathily and buried his head into the shoulder of Blaine's blazer, taking comfort in the familiarity. Even though they were not together, he still allowed himself a moment of weakness in Blaine's arms. He knew Blaine would understand, wouldn't judge him.

"No, I think I'm fine. We should head back before Wes hunts us down."

Blaine hesitated, clearly about to protest, but he gave in and instead took Kurt's hand in his own as they headed back down the corridor. "I'm really proud of you, you know that?"

"What for?" Kurt wondered.

"What _for_?" he repeated incredulously. "For _that!_ For facing him, for talking to him, for being the bigger person, for letting everything go. Not many people would be able to do what you just did. You- You don't even realize how brave you are."

Kurt blushed. "I'm sure you would have done it, too."

"No," Blaine denied. "I highly doubt I could...You're stronger than me, Kurt, and..." He took a deep breath. His hand tightened around Kurt's. "And I love that about you."

Kurt's heart jumped to his throat.

_Okay, forgiving Karofsky? So, _so_ worth it..._

…

**Notice how it switched from Karofsky to David? Because for me, 'Karofsky' is the bully. 'David' is the boy within that's struggling to come to terms with himself. Clever, huh? ;)**

**Kisses,**

**~Ripple**


End file.
